Media plays a definitive role in shaping how society perceives news, whether it is the local fundraiser for your city’s food bank broadcasted on your five pm news station or fraud in presidential elections, what a journalist reports will be the opinion of most viewers watching. This gives the media a massive responsibility to report unbiasedly. However, being unbiased is not solely about not having an opinion of what you are reporting but also about not disregarding stories because of your opinion.
Oklahoma ranks among the highest for biased reporting except for one publication, The Black Wallstreet Times. According to Ad Fontes Media’s most updated media bias chart, The Black Wall Street Times ranks higher concerning reliability than MSNBC. In cases like murder, media plays such a big role in court proceedings that many judges presiding over a murder case will instruct jurors not to watch media reports while serving on that jury. So why is the media so quick to crucify Award-winning recording artist C. Lane?
C. lane is known in Oklahoma for causing media to pull up to whatever event he is present at, whether it is his or one to which he is donating his time. But, recently, the media has taken a different approach to Hip Hop star Christian Lane’s new media spotlight.
Media outlets reported last week, “A suspect in a Lawton homicide is jailed on a charge of eluding many law enforcement agencies and endangering others, but other charges are pending as the investigation continues.”
Christian Lane, 30, was arrested following a high-speed chase down I-44 toward Wichita Falls last night, January 24. He remains in the Lawton city jail, and a police spokesperson says the investigation into the homicide is ongoing.
Reports from witnesses at the time of police contact on January 24 state that police approached Christian’s car at a local apartment complex with guns drawn before questions were asked.
Police state they were Approaching Christian to question him about an active homicide when he fled. Who approaches a person for questioning with guns drawn?
Police report he was being booked on eluding police, but without a search warrant, a person is not required to speak to the police. So what was Mr. Lane alluding to if no charges had been filed yet against Christian until two days later?
Elijah Jones, 20, was shot and killed outside of the Aces and Eights bar near NW 18th and Cache Road in Lawton, Oklahoma, around 2:30 am on January 17, 2023
LPD officials reported having no suspects on January 19, 2023.
On January 24, officers with no warrant approached Christian at a local apartment complex with guns drawn, and Christian fled authorities resulting in an arrest.
Mr. Lane was charged with felony alluding and endangering others.
Christian lane was charged two days later with Murder in the Second Degree and possession of a firearm while being a felon, even though no gun was found on him or anywhere around him at the time of the arrest.
Let’s first examine the facts reported by the media of the murder in question:
Fact 1
Officers state that they were approaching Christian Lane in a traffic stop, but Witnesses say Christian Lane was parked with keys in hand and about to walk to his apartment. The fourth Amendment to the Constitution states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized,”
Officer Chris Blessing says an officer responded to a call of someone hearing gunshots at Aces & Eights lounge on NW Cache Road at around 2:30 this morning.
Witnesses at the location of the shooting report C. Lane leaving around 1:30 am; the club is supposed to be closed by 2 am.
Fact 2
Lawton Police Department arrested Christian Lane on January 24 for eluding officers, but they did not file a search warrant until 1/30/2023
Fact 3
Media reported Christian Lane was being charged with second-degree murder on January 27, but they did not issue Search Warrant until 1/30
Fact 4
Media reports that investigators have security footage of Christian Lane pointing a gun and the murder victim, but there are no cameras at all, even in a five-mile radius of the sight of the incident, that could have recorded the crime scene.
Fact 5
Officer Chris Blessing says an officer responded to a call of someone hearing gunshots at Aces & Eights lounge on NW Cache Road at around 2:30 this morning.
Witnesses at the location of the shooting report C. Lane leaving around 1:30 am: the club is supposed to be closed by 2 am.
With Christian Lane sitting in a Comanche County Oklahoma jail with a million-dollar bond, one has to ask what role has media has already played in the conviction of this man who is innocent until proven guilty.
The state of Oklahoma VS Christian Lane will be an interesting case to follow. Guilty or not, the media is supposed to be as unbiased as possible when reporting news, and fact-checking is 90% of a reporter’s job. If and when should media be held accountable for shaping the way the public views certain news, such as a murder case? And if it does become a proven fact that there is no security camera footage of the alleged murderer Christian Lane pointing a gun at the victim on the night of January 17, 2023, could local Oklahoma media be held responsible for reporting false information? We will have to follow the case and see.
